The owner of a Halal market in Maine pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in a massive scheme to defraud the government of funds meant for low-income Americans.
Ali Ratib Daham, 40, of Westbrook, Maine, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to food stamp trafficking, money laundering, theft of government funds, and conspiracy charges. A naturalized citizen originally from Iraq, Daham was the owner of Ahram Halal Market in Portland from 2011 to 2017.
According to court records, Daham conspired with others to give cash to customers in exchange for vouchers under both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program. He then turned in those fraudulent vouchers to the government for compensation at the full amount, according to court documents.
Prosecutors alleged that Daham received more than $4 million from 2011 through April 2016. At least $1.4 million of that amount was through illegal transactions, according to court documents.
The money laundering charge arose from allegations that Daham deposited proceeds from the conspiracy in a personal bank account. He also admitted to using welfare programs himself, stealing at least $39,000 in MaineCare benefits by underreporting his income and assets to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
“The defendant stole from programs designed to provide nutritional items to some of our most vulnerable community members — low-income households, mothers, infants, and children.”
“The defendant stole from programs designed to provide nutritional items to some of our most vulnerable community members — low-income households, mothers, infants, and children,” U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank said in a prepared statement. “The defendant put his own financial profit above their needs. People who defraud these programs should expect to be brought to justice.”
Daham faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy and 10 years for theft of government funds, plus a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. He also faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for money laundering.
Defendants typically get less time under advisory sentencing guidelines, which judges usually follow.
Daham’s plea agreement requires him to pay more than $1.4 million in restitution, including $80,000 by his sentencing date. He also agreed to forfeit $80,814 in cash that authorities seized from him last year.
Co-defendant Abdul Kareem Daham faces charges as well.
The FBI raided the small grocery store last year after an investigation in 2015 uncovered an “exponential growth” in the market’s WIC redemptions. Investigators determined that the market was billing substantially more in food stamp claims than other nearby stores of similar size and inventory.
Related: Massive Halal Market Scam Ends with Federal Indictments
An FBI affidavit filed last year showed that redemptions to the WIC program increased from $87,352 last year to $268,047 in fiscal year 2015 — a roughly 207 percent increase.
The affidavit states that federal investigators helped break the case open by repeatedly sending an undercover witness into Ahram Market posing as a recent immigrant, beginning in September 2015.
“Mainers can take comfort knowing that our dedicated Fraud Investigation and Recovery Unit (“FIRU”) team is hard at work every day, ensuring state welfare benefits are going to the Mainers who need them most,” Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Ricker Hamilton said in a statement.
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